Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin; Written by Himself. [Vol. 2 of 2]
With his Most Interesting Essays, Letters, and Miscellaneous Writings; Familiar, Moral, Political, Economical, and Philosophical, Selected with Care from All His Published Productions, and Comprising Whatever Is Most Entertaining and Valuable to the General Reader

By Benjamin Franklin

Page 105

that emptyhouses, barns, &c., should be hired for them; and that the respectiveprovinces where they were should pay the expense, and furnish firing,bedding, drink, and some other articles to the soldiers, _gratis_. Thereis no way for any province to do this but by the Assembly's making a lawto raise the money. Pennsylvania Assembly has made such a law; New-YorkAssembly has refused to do it; and now all the talk here is, of sendinga force to compel them.

"The reasons given by the Assembly to the governor for the refusal are,that they understand the act to mean the furnishing such things tosoldiers only while on their march through the country, and not to greatbodies of soldiers, to be fixed, as at present, in the province; theburden in the latter case being greater than the inhabitants can bear;that it would put it in the power of the captain-general to oppress theprovince at pleasure, &c. But there is supposed to be another reason atbottom, which they intimate, though they do not plainly express it, towit, that it is of the nature of an _internal tax_ laid on them byParliament, which has no right so to do. Their refusal is here called_rebellion_, and punishment is thought of.

"Now, waving that point of right, and supposing the legislatures inAmerica subordinate to the legislatures of Great Britain, one mightconceive, I think, a power in the superior legislature to forbid theinferior legislatures making particular laws; but to enjoin it to make aparticular law, contrary to its own judgment, seems improper; anassembly or parliament not being an _executive_ officer of government,whose duty it is, in law-making, to obey orders, but a _deliberative_body, who are to consider what comes before them, its propriety,practicability, or possibility, and to determine accordingly; the verynature of a parliament seems to be destroyed by supposing it may bebound and compelled by a law of a superior parliament to make a lawcontrary to its own judgment.

"Indeed, the act of Parliament in question has not, as in other acts,when a duty is enjoined, directed a penalty on neglect or refusal, and amode of recovering that penalty. It seems, therefore, to the people inAmerica as a requisition, which they are at liberty to comply with ornot, as it may suit or not suit the different circumstances of thedifferent provinces. Pennsylvania has, therefore, voluntarily complied.New-York, as I said before, has refused. The ministry that made the act,and all their adherents,

Text Comparison with Benjamin Franklin and the First Balloons

The recent bi-centenary of Franklin's birth, which coincided with the
revival of interest in balloons, makes this a timely topic, especially
since Franklin's descriptions of the first balloon ascensions are
almost unknown and do not appear among his philosophical papers.

It was afterwards filled with the inflammable Air that is produced by
pouring Oil of Vitriol upon Filings of Iron, when it was found to have
a tendency upwards so strong as to be capable of lifting a Weight of 39
Pounds, exclusive of its own Weight which was 25 lbs.

If we do a foolish thing, we are the first
to laugh at it ourselves, and are almost as much pleased with a _Bon
Mot_ or a good _Chanson_, that ridicules well the Disappointment of
a Project, as we might have been with its Success.